Greensburg, In. — The 16th Greensburg High School Chautauqua is a program intended to promote diversity among students, faculty, administrators and community members.
- Captain Jamiel Altheri, first Yemeni-American to attain the rank of Captain in the NYPD police force, co-founded NYPD Muslim Officers Society Jamiel Altaheri made history by becoming the first Yemeni-American to attain the rank of Police Captain in the New York City Police Department on October 30, 2015. He is also one of the highest ranking Muslim Officers in the New York City Police Department (NYPD). He is currently assigned as the Executive Officer of the 23rd Precinct in the upper east side of Manhattan (Spanish Harlem) Captain Altaheri is the co-founder of the NYPD Muslim Officers Society and founder of Building Bridges through peaceful dialogue. He is also the Director of Public Relations for the NYPD Middle Eastern & Turkic Society. Captain Altaheri is passionate about bridging the communication gap between law enforcement officers and the Muslim community. He has conducted numerous lectures, and discussions on the importance of diversity, community policing, collaboration, and religious sensitivity in law enforcement to members of the United States Military, law enforcement personnel, and community organizations. (Thursday 7:55-8:45).
- Marguerite Mishkin is a hidden child of the Holocaust She was born to Jewish parents in Belgium in 1941. Her father was taken to Auschwitz concentration camp the next year and perished there. Knowing that Marguerite and her older sister, Annette, were in great danger. Their mother approached the Belgian Resistance movement for help. Through the resistance, she was able to send her children into hiding with a rural Belgian Catholic family in 1943. They remained with that family until 1946. Meanwhile, in 1944, Marguerite’s mother was captured and sent to Auschwitz, where she perished. After the war, Marguerite and her sister were removed from the Belgian family’s care and sent to a Jewish orphanage in Brussels. From there, they were both adopted by a Chicago rabbi and his wife in 1950. Marguerite grew up in Chicago, graduated from Roosevelt University and became a teacher. Now retired, she often speaks on the Holocaust to schools, collages, and community groups. (Thursday 8:45-9:25).
- Rosalind Wiseman, best-selling author of “Queen Bee’s and Wannabe’s”, which Inspired the movie and now musical “Mean Girls”. Wiseman is also the creator of the owning up curricular, a program that teaches students and educators to take responsibility as bystanders, perpetrators and victims of unethical behavior, a sought after speaker on bullying, parenting, ethical leadership, and the use of social media. She keynoted the White House Summit on bullying. (Thursday 9:31-10:30).
- Mary Badham is an American actress most famous for her portrayed of Jean Louise “Scout” Finch in the 1962 film classic “To Kill a Mockingbird,” for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Mary was particularly close to actor Gregory Peck, who played Scouts father Atticus Finch. Mary acted in several other films as well as the final episode of the original “Twilight Zone” She then retired from acting and became an art restorer, as well as a college testing coordinator. Today she enjoys traveling the world recalling the experiences making “To Kill a Mockingbird,” while expounding the book’s messages of tolerance and compassion. In 2012 she attended a screening with President Barack Obama at the White House to mark the 50th anniversary of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” (Thursday 10:30-11:13).
- Sam Mihara is a second generation Japanese-American who was born and raised in San Francisco in early 1930’s. After the outbreaks of World War 2, Sam and his family were forced to leave their homes, jobs, and were moved inland to a Japanese-American internment camp in Northern Wyoming. He was just 9 when his family moved to Heart Mountain camp, one of ten such camps that housed 120,000 West Coast residents of Japanese ancestry. Sam and his family lived in one 20-foot-square room, a barracks for the wars duration. After the war ended his family returned to San Francisco. He became a rocket scientist and executive with the Boeing Company. Following retirement from Boeing, Sam created his own high-tech consulting firm. Sam is one of the few survivors of the Japanese-American imprisonment who is willing to speak about his experience. (Thursday 11:55-12:40).
- Justice Christopher M. Goff He is a justice on the Indiana Supreme Court. He was appointed by Republican Governor Eric Holcomb in 2017. Goff was previously a judge for the Wabash County Superior Court in Indiana. (Thursday 12:40-1:25).
- Susan Bro, mother of Charlottesville victim Heather Heyer. She is the President/ Chairman and Co-Founder of The Heather Heyer Foundation, created to honor Heather Heyer, a young civil rights activist who dedicated her life to promoting equal rights among all people. Since Heather’s death on August 12th, Susan has worked tirelessly to spread the lessons of tolerance and compassion. She has appeared on the “Ellen Show”, “The MTV Video Awards”, among many others. We are honored that she has chosen the Greensburg Chautauqua for her first appearance in Indiana. (Thursday 1:35-2:20)
- Stephanie Wang, Indianapolis Star reporter will be talking about her recent investigative report on Hate Crimes in Indiana. She is a graduate of Northwestern and previously worked at the Tampa Bay Times, South Florida Sun Sentinel, and the Austin American-Statesman. (Thursday 2:20-3:00).
- Shari Wagner, 2017 Indiana Poet Laureate She is the author of two books of poems, Evening Chore and The Harmonist at nightfall: Poems of Indiana. Both books as well as two unfinished manuscripts (one with poems in the voice of a Mennonite farm wife and the other in the voices of various men and women from Indiana history) reflect her interest in exploring the Indiana landscape and finding connections between the past and the present, either in terms of public history or memoir. (Friday 8:15-9:25).
- Sonia Levitin is a German American novelist, artist, producer, Holocaust survivor, and author of over 40 novels and picture books for young adults and children. Her books “Incident at Loring Groves” won the Edgar Allan Poe Award and “The Return” received the American Library Association’s Best Book for Young Adults. Sonia was born in Berlin under a Nazi controlled Germany. Being of Jewish descent she managed to escape persecution by traveling with her mother and two sisters to Switzerland. Her father, a prominent clothing designer, escaped to New York City, then to Las Angeles where he would raise Sonia and her sisters. Levitin would later, write several novels as an immigrant in the U.S. “Journey to America” and “Silver Days” tells the story of German Jewish refugees who flee the horrors of the Holocaust. (Friday 9:31-11)
- Christina Hale, CEO of Indianapolis Foundation. During four years as a state representative from Indianapolis, she earned a reputation for effectiveness and bipartisanship. In 2014, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce called her “one of the most active, thoughtful and determined state legislators.” In selecting her to be his running mate in 2016, gubernatorial candidate, John Gregg cited her “record of reaching across the aisle.” The Indianapolis Business Journal name d Christina to its “Women of Influence” in 2015. (Friday 1:35-2:20).
- Chris Davis, former IU football player and currently active in the Bridge Mentoring Group. (Friday 2:20-3:00).
